Baseball. Trojans Drop Heartbreaker at California in Game Two, 9-8

BERKELEY, Calif. – For the second-straight day the Trojans completed a comeback to take the lead in a back-and-forth game against the host California Golden Bears, but the Trojans were unable to hold on, as a three-run eighth inning gave the Bears a 9-8 lead in game two of the series at Evans Diamond on Saturday evening.

The Trojans (18-19, 5-9 Pac-12) swung the bats well for the second-straight night, tallying their eight runs on nine hits, punctuated by a career night for Adalberto Carrillo (Santa Ana, Calif./Tustin HS), who tied his career highs in both home runs (two) and RBIs (five). Frankie Rios (Lakewood, Calif./Long Beach Poly HS) also had two hits on the day, with seven of nine Trojans in the starting lineup getting a hit on the day.

For the second-straight day, the Trojans jumped out to a lead, this time a 2-0 lead in the second inning off Carrillo’s first homer of the day, a two-run shot to left. However, the Golden Bears (18-18, 10-7 Pac-12) answered with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to take a 4-2 lead.

The Trojans traded runs with the Bears in the fourth, and added fourth run in the fifth to pull within one, 5-4.

Then in the sixth Carrillo launched his second homer of the day, this time a three-run shot to push the Trojans ahead of the Bears, 7-5. However, the Bears answered right back with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning to pull within one, 7-6.

In the seventh inning the Trojans manufactured a run to push their lead to two, 8-6, as Matthew Acosta (Chino Hills, Calif./Ayala HS) raced home on a wild pitch.

However, Trojan pitchers got into trouble in the eighth inning, and a two-run home run by Cameron Eden tied the ballgame for the Bears, and the go-ahead run came in on an RBI single by Jeffery Mitchell, Jr. against reliever Solomon Bates (Victorville, Calif./Oak Hills HS), who entered with one out and a runner on second after a Tyrus Greene double off Brad Wegman (Temecula, Calif./Great Oak HS).

The Trojans were then retired in order in the top of the ninth by Bears closer Erik Martinez.

Wegman took the loss, falling to 2-4, while Cal reliever Andrew Buckley got the win to improve to 1-0.